Using Bento Boxes for lunches.
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Ive got the whole weekend to figure out what to do with this thing! My old ones in the front. Such a difference, kind of intimidating. Definitely going to be a tier a meal thing.
I'm getting so excited to see mine! Stalking the UPS website doesn't make it come any faster, unfortunately.
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@CupcakeCrusoe which colour did you get again? The greens pretty bright, but so soft!
I started making some gyoza, so that's a start
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Yummy! Can you make my lunches for me????0
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So I've had a bento box for the longest time and have never used it, so I decided to see what I could scrounge up without going to the store (for fun). It doesn't have a lot of color (which would be easy to change with bell peppers or whatever!), but that's okay. Here's my cute little box that I'm convinced I got at a Daiso store that closed after I had only been ONCE.
I have a serving of leftover hot sausage with chopped up onions, 1/4 of a whole wheat bagel, a wedge of laughing cow cheese, and celery with 16g peanut butter. I'm thinking when I'm ready to eat it, I'll whip up some egg beaters and make a sausage/egg scramble. What's pictured currently comes in roughly around 393 calories so I have some wiggle room. I'll probably have coffee with this, as it's a bit more of a breakfast box.
I also totally impulse bought one of those Monbento boxes. >< I could afford to get into more meal planning anyway! I'm always such a slacker when I have to do lunches for myself and usually reach for more convenient things, so this should be a neat learning experience for me.0 -
@CupcakeCrusoe which colour did you get again? The greens pretty bright, but so soft!
I started making some gyoza, so that's a start
The Brasil box. I'm excited, love the bright yellow.
I often make steamed dumplings too!- in bulk and freeze them, I'm thinking that's going to happen more and more often.0 -
@Aross83 I have those same little oval containers. I bought them originally for sauces and dips, but they're really big enough for a small side, and since they have lids, I think I like them better than the cupcake cups for a lot of things.0
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Uh, oh -- I just spent $60.00 on sale bento items. I'm in trouble!0
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Oo! That box looks really nice. I'm making my husband take me to a Japanese market next week to see if I can snag some nice things. While my box wasn't super diverse food-wise, it did really seem to make me feel more full cause it took me longer to munch on my various things. I'm actually excited to go to the store to restock on other things I can add to it because apparently all the things I have in the house that I want to add to it are brown, but I'm sick and being a hermit at the moment, so I'm just trying to finish up some leftovers still.
Here's my plain box again for tomorrow. Leftover hot sausage (must get rid of it!) with chopped onion in my main box. I may add some eggs to it, but I didn't add any eggs to it today and thought it was just super yummy anyway. Then I made a mini snack box with rice and nut crackers, a wedge of laughing cow cheese, celery, I'll have a coffee and possibly a pudding cup with it if I want to. I look forward to getting into cooking chicken and rice for this as I'm lazy and never want to cook anything.
About 465.6 calories for the food, and then the coffee has a 35 calorie creamer in it.
This thread has been super motivating! I'm going to look back and take notes on everyone's pictures so when I hit the store, I'll have a better game plan.
Edit because man, leftover sausage looks so gross in my pictures. XD It tastes good, I swear!
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I've found with the big monebento double layered boxes, if you have problems filling them up, then putting a roughly chopped salad into one layer can help (include dressing separately if you like). A lot of bulk, lots of veggies, not many calories.
In other news (as I'm sure you're dying to know!) I solved the hard rice problem pretty much by unwrapping the frozen rice before re-heating, adding a few tsps of water, and re-wrapping and microwaving (without piercing the film!).0 -
I've found with the big monebento double layered boxes, if you have problems filling them up, then putting a roughly chopped salad into one layer can help (include dressing separately if you like). A lot of bulk, lots of veggies, not many calories.
In other news (as I'm sure you're dying to know!) I solved the hard rice problem pretty much by unwrapping the frozen rice before re-heating, adding a few tsps of water, and re-wrapping and microwaving (without piercing the film!).
I was actually wondering today when I was cooking my rice if you still had that problem. My last batch of rice was a little hard, and I think it's because I rushed the cooking process. A longer soak, and a longer slower cook seems to get my rice perfect, and stay 'soft' when reheated.0 -
Good advice! I don't have a proper rice cooking pot just a normal pan; the lid allows some steam to escape, so probably the rice isn't the best to start with!0
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I used one of my big boxes for tomorrow. It includes everything except the yoghurt I have for breakfast, and a peach, because you know, squishy peach is icky.
Everything in the box totals 500 calories (my diary is open if you want to see the details for Feb 09th
). I know I won't use all the dressing on the salad that's in the bottle, so it will be taken home to use on the rest of the bag for dinner. If you include the yoghurt and the peach that is in my cooler bag as well, it's 710. The tamagoyaki is a 3 egg one rather than my normal 2, since I've not been making my protein goals lately, and I'm sure that's what has been giving me the munchies at the end of every day.
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Good advice! I don't have a proper rice cooking pot just a normal pan; the lid allows some steam to escape, so probably the rice isn't the best to start with!
I just use a decent non stick saucepan which has a lid with a hole (you could just cover the lid in tin foil if you want to block it. If I had a cast iron pot, I don't think it'd make that much of a difference tbh.
What I would love is one of those Tiger brand rice cookers or similar. Input the type of rice(Japanese, basmati, jasmine), how you want it cooked (normal, congee, etc) and in how many hours you want it to be ready. Add rice and water. Push start, and it's ready when you are *drools*0 -
Wow if I had one of those I might actually cook rice! I still default to the microwave kind more often than not.0
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I love bento lunches!! I usually put mine together while making dinner so I can put aside a few pieces of meat/salad/rice or whatever we're having. I sometimes add a boiled egg or tin of tuna but always base it around vegies. They're fun!! 0
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So I cobbled together some completely unauthentic kimchi jjigae (from my mostly Chinese cupboard), which is hotter than the surface of the sun. And I have some raisins, but I really don't know how water-tight or not this is, and didn't fancy spicy raisins. A good test I suppose though. Wish me luck and an unsoggy bag!
I do like the box though, it doesn't seem toooo huge and it's a good reason to fit more salad in my life.
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If worst comes to worst, you could always wrap the kimchi sections with some cling film to keep all the liquidy goodness to itself. I've already droppedy lunch bag this morning and it's not even 7:30am yet, which is why I don't do soupy foods. My poor peach
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beckybean17 wrote: »I love bento lunches!! I usually put mine together while making dinner so I can put aside a few pieces of meat/salad/rice or whatever we're having. I sometimes add a boiled egg or tin of tuna but always base it around vegies. They're fun!!
Same here my meat serving might be from my frozen stash, but the veg usually comes from dinner. My DH still doesn't know what to make of the star shaped carrot and flower shaped broccoli stems I'm serving him. 0 -
Will someone tell me where I'm going wrong with my egg shaping? I've never been able to make them not look derpy.
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I tried cling filming the pot, but they're super snug. If I have any on the base the lid won't close, and just on the side seems a bit pointless (maybe an elastic band?) OH WELL!0
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PrizePopple wrote: »Will someone tell me where I'm going wrong with my egg shaping? I've never been able to make them not look derpy.
I put the egg in the mold while still kinda hot, close the mold and stick it in the fridge til it's completely cold. Having the right size egg for your mold also helps. That can be difficult since the molds aren't always marked.0 -
SnuggleSmacks wrote: »PrizePopple wrote: »Will someone tell me where I'm going wrong with my egg shaping? I've never been able to make them not look derpy.
I put the egg in the mold while still kinda hot, close the mold and stick it in the fridge til it's completely cold. Having the right size egg for your mold also helps. That can be difficult since the molds aren't always marked.
Hmm 2 of my 4 molds have writing on them, but I don't read Japanese... :grumble:0 -
PrizePopple wrote: »SnuggleSmacks wrote: »PrizePopple wrote: »Will someone tell me where I'm going wrong with my egg shaping? I've never been able to make them not look derpy.
I put the egg in the mold while still kinda hot, close the mold and stick it in the fridge til it's completely cold. Having the right size egg for your mold also helps. That can be difficult since the molds aren't always marked.
Hmm 2 of my 4 molds have writing on them, but I don't read Japanese... :grumble:
The egg size is usually on the packaging. On the plastic itself, it's usually telling you if it's dishwasher safer or microwave safe. Don't worry, I can never get my egg shaping right either, so I don't bother anymore. My eggs taste good, and once they've gone in my mouth it doesn't matter what shape they are
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Alas, my package was not marked either, but fortunately large eggs worked.0
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okay, tomorrow's snack bento & lunch bento. Snacks, melba toast w/ laughing cow cheese and a kiwi with an egg, didn't bother to mold it today. Lunch is jasmine rice, sugar snap peas, edamame, mixed color peppers & tofu hambagu. Details in my diary for the 9th.
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mangrothian wrote: »PrizePopple wrote: »SnuggleSmacks wrote: »PrizePopple wrote: »Will someone tell me where I'm going wrong with my egg shaping? I've never been able to make them not look derpy.
I put the egg in the mold while still kinda hot, close the mold and stick it in the fridge til it's completely cold. Having the right size egg for your mold also helps. That can be difficult since the molds aren't always marked.
Hmm 2 of my 4 molds have writing on them, but I don't read Japanese... :grumble:
The egg size is usually on the packaging. On the plastic itself, it's usually telling you if it's dishwasher safer or microwave safe. Don't worry, I can never get my egg shaping right either, so I don't bother anymore. My eggs taste good, and once they've gone in my mouth it doesn't matter what shape they are
Well I bought this stuff when my kids were toddlers ... so now that they are 10 and almost 8 I'd like to at least once make them an impressive bento lunch. :laugh:0 -
@PrizePopple most of my egg molds said L on them, but I've found that your standard large egg is kind of small for most of them. This last pack of eggs I bought seem a bit larger than average larges, and they have fit great. Since most eggs we buy are size L, you should be good to give them a try. I find that cooling them just enough to handle and peel is the perfect temp for the molds. I then leave them in the mold and toss them in the fridge until I'm ready to eat them.0
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